Thursday, April 20, 2017

MSR News Online: "“Our main goal is to spread awareness,” Pachuta stated. We want to make sure people know about the state legislature proposing a 40 percent cut to transportation. We want people’s voices to be heard about what impact this will have on their lives. We really hope the governor and state legislature are paying attention.”"

Monday, April 17, 2017

Woodbury Bulletin : "The term "podunk" describes an insignificant and out of the way town or village. While it may be true that Woodbury was largely rural with a small population 50 years ago, what is wrong with that? And what is so great about Woodbury transforming into a giant suburban superpower full of impervious surfaces, cookie-cutter homes, big box stores, redundant fast food troughs and lights that cut out the stars at night? As someone who lives in the last remaining rural part of Woodbury's east side, I take pride in our agricultural and farming existence. We wake up early, get our hands dirty and don't take the beauty and gift of the earth around us for granted. My family has accepted and benefited from the inevitable adjacent development, but we certainly don't take pride in references to our land being a "blank slate ripe for rapid growth.""

mywebtimes.com: ""Access to transportation for people with limited means is a problem in Streator. We have heard from employees who have trouble retaining their workforce, because they don't have reliable transportation," Wrighton told the council.

In fact, he said, one company has approached the city to express its willingness to help subsidize public transportation, so it can keep its good employees on board."

Thursday, April 6, 2017

MSR News : "If one didn’t know any better it would appear the legislators were motivated by some kind of bias against city dwellers or at least certain segments of city dwellers.

Presently, both the House and Senate transportation committees are proposing deep cuts. The Metropolitan Council has said that it needs 74 million over the two-year budgetary period to keep pace and operate on its current level.

Yet the Republican led legislature’s proposal fails to acknowledge the request and instead has decided to cut the existing Metro Transit budget by about 24 million over the next two years. This would leave the Met Council $122 million short of what it needs to operate over the period."